The International Monetary Fund sharply reduced its 2026 growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) to 1.1% on Tuesday as war chokes Gulf oil and gas exports.  Iran and Iraq will be particularly hard-hit, the IMF’s World Economic Outlook warned, as it revised down its January prediction of 3.9 % regional growth this year. Growth should rebound next year, as long as energy production and transport are “normalised” over the next few months, the IMF predicted. The region’s economies grew 3.2% in 2025, it said. [...]